A chara, - I write in response to Mr Sowby's letter of May 9th, which contains some inaccuracies which I feel need to be clarified.
The data shown in the diagram (The Irish Times, May 3rd), as Mr Sowby quite rightly states, is an overall number of suicide deaths broken down by age. In order to get a more realistic and informed picture of the situation, death rates should be quoted (by convention) as rates per 100,000 of the relevant population. This enables comparison of data internationally.
In fact, age-related suicide rates for men in this country, rather than decreasing as suggested, show two peaks, one for young men aged 25-35 years, and a second lesser peak, among older men aged 55-75 years. For women the suicide rate is in general about a third that of men.
However, the rate among older women (45-75 years) is markedly greater than that for young women, a distinctly different situation than exists for males. - Is mise,
Dr NIAMH NIC DAÉID,
Forensic Science Unit,
Strathclyde University,
Glasgow.